EXPRESS The
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Locally owned and proudly independent
Sea of red engulfs FNQ
Billy Gordon was all smiles on election day
Shane Knuth casts his vote on Saturday
By Justin Fris
THE ALP completed one of the greatest political resurrections since Federation last Saturday night; and is within touching distance of potentially forming government. Three years on from one of their heaviest defeats in history, voters deserted the LNP across the Far North, with the ALP claiming three of the four seats on offer. In Cook, ALP candidate Billy Gordon (9,028 votes) had a 15% swing in his favour
after the first hour of counting, with translated into a sizeable two-party preferred win over David Kempton (6,109). Dalrymple offered no such surprise in the overall result, with KAP Member Shane Knuth coasting to victory over LNP candidate Liz Schmidt. Mr Knuth, who won his third Dalrymple election in a row, was only one of three independents elected on Saturday. If either the ALP or LNP are unable to form government in their own right, Mr
Knuth and his fellow independents will effectively play the role of ‘kingmaker’ in a bid for government to be formed. By far the closest electorate in the Far North was Barron River, with the ALP candidate Craig Crawford leading Michael Trout by 1,757 votes, (two party preferred) with 78% of the vote counted. Mr Trout, who at time of printing lead the primary vote by 566 votes, conceded defeat on Monday morning (due to preference voting).
One interesting aspect of the Barron River count was the presence of the Greens and Palmer United parties. Greens candidate Noel Castley-Wright ensured his party received over 10 per cent of the primary vote, while PUP candidate Andrew Schebella achieved a positive swing in his first campaign. All electoral information and vote tallies within this article were current and correct as of 5pm, February 1. Neither ALP or LNP has claimed outright victory at State level.
Turn to pages 6 and 7 for more on the QLD State Election...
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